Golfers endure rain delay, heat on first day of Henderson golf tournament

Many golfers complain about the many rounds of long, hot, grueling golf it takes to win the James Henderson Memorial Match Play Championship.

But not Brody Moreland.

Moreland, the 27-year-old defending champion, thinks his game and personality is perfectly suited for the annual head-to-head challenge among the area's best amateur players at Chase Hammond Golf Course.

"I don't make tons and tons of birdies, but I do make a lot of pars," said Moreland, who downed Adam Farrell 7 and 6 Friday in his opening match in defense of his title.

"My goal is to play solid and force my opponent to play really good golf to beat me. If that happens, I'm fine with it as long as I don't just give it away."

Moreland will have plenty of strong competition as he looks to repeat, most notably from No. 2 seed Scott Schuitema, who shot a blistering 3-under par 69 to win Friday morning's qualifier.

The field played through rain Friday morning, then was called in due to lightning at 11:30 a.m. The golfers went back out at noon, only to be called in 5 minutes later due to a lightning strike, then finally resumed at 1:15 p.m. The rest of the day featured sunny, steamy conditions.

Moreland plays Muskegon Community College golfer Alex Haines in today's 8 a.m. second-round match, while Schuitema is matched up with 1992 Henderson champion Kevin Frisch, the 15th seed, in an intriguing dual.

Frisch, a former standout at Mona Shores, drove down from his home in Gaylord to try his luck, with no idea he was walking into a buzz-saw of a draw.

Frisch edged Bucknell University golfer J.J. Szmadzinski 3 and 2 in his opening match, now he faces the red-hot Schuitema. The winner of that match gets either bomber Nigel Hawryliw or Ryan Mouw, who placed second in the McNiff District last month, in the third round.

"Whoever comes out of that group (Saturday) has definitely earned it," Frisch said.